WESTON'S MP John Penrose says that he doesn t believe MPs should set their own pay and allowance and abstains on all votes about pay and perks – including the recent debates in Parliament. I agree that MPs shouldn t set their own pay, but abstaining is a

WESTON'S MP John Penrose says that he doesn't believe MPs should set their own pay and allowance and abstains on all votes about pay and perks - including the recent debates in Parliament. I agree that MPs shouldn't set their own pay, but abstaining is a cop out - how will the system ever change if MPs like Mr Penrose sit on their hands?

I hope to be elected to parliament to represent my home town. But I have no desire to be elected to a House that has lost all public respect.

Can there be a more damning image of our leading politicians than the thought of them pathetically filling in forms to claim tiny sums for items like light bulbs and bath plugs?

In every case the excuse seems to be the same. "It was all within the rules." This is an argument that simply won't wash when those rules were created by MPs themselves and have been left unchanged by the very people who have benefited from them.

Sitting MPs must take the lead and accept their responsibility for the system. They must vote for radical reforms that provide the drastic surgery needed to the pay and allowance of our MPs.

Ultimately, to command public confidence, the whole system will need to be administered independently of them for they clearly cannot be trusted to keep their own House in order.

MIKE BELL

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Weston